Exxon CEO: Global warming ‘manageable’

Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that the effects of global warming are “manageable,” quickly drawing scorn from environmentalists.

Tillerson, speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said climate change will require people to adapt to rising sea levels and shift food production, Bloomberg reports.

He also called for more “competent” climate change models, their piece states.

Environmentalists bashed the “manageable” comment. “The sound you hear is millions of jaws dropping, polar bear jaws included,” the Sierra Club posted on Twitter.

Tillerson also said the company is making “no money” on its U.S. natural gas production because prices are too low, according to press accounts of his remarks.

Natural gas prices dropped to 10-year lows earlier this year amid booming U.S. production but have rebounded lately.

Tillerson said prices dropped below the cost of producing the fuel. "The cost of supply is not $2.50 [per million British thermal units]. We are all losing our shirts today," he said, according to Reuters.

Reuters notes that U.S. natural gas prices have risen over 50 percent since April's lows. Prices approached $3 in trading Wednesday.

Exxon has made major investments in U.S. natural gas, purchasing XTO Energy in a $41 billion deal in 2010.